Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The comments are fun

I get e-mail’s referring to government “Ponzi Schemes.” Let’s stop calling them “Ponzi Schemes” and call them “Madoff Schemes.” Compared to Bernie, Ponzi was a Piker.

Many critics took—or pretended to take—my piece “I’m Tired” to mean I was worn out, or giving up. But in common usage, “I’m tired of” has a different meaning than “I’m tired.” People can say, “I’m tired of beans,” without implying they are physically weary, just as saying “I’m sick of beans” doesn’t mean they are physically ill. The different usages in English are so common and well understood that, if I was feeling uncharitable, I might think they were deliberately misinterpreting me in order to criticize. So, to be charitable, I’ll put it down to poor reading skills.

“I’m Tired” is here, if you missed it:

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2009/02/robert.html

A few folks complained that I was just complaining—apparently it’s so wrong for me to complain about the problems I see in our country, they have to complain about me doing so. One guy (you know who you are, Jack) wrote a long piece griping about “I’m tired,” then ended with, “Please remember that while griping may make you feel better, it doesn't accomplish much.” Writing that probably made him feel better.

Another thing I’m suddenly tired of: Critics claiming I said something I didn’t, then criticizing the thing they made up. That’s for professional journalists, kids, don’t try it at home. I have never said that all the members of any group, white, black, brown, yellow, red, green, gay, straight, male, female, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Republicans or Democrats were evil. Not even Lawyers or Congress. Or that all members of any of these groups were virtuous. Quite the contrary. Learn to read. Makes me want to smack them in the snotlocker—not that I’m a violent person. Marines are gentle like flowers in the spring.

The fellow who translated “I’m Tired” into Portuguese has a great post on his blog called “Brazil for Beginners.” Very educational reading about this important southern neighbor.

http://deslumieres.blogspot.com/2008/06/brazil-for-beginners-i-phantom-menace.html

Probably my favorite blog response was the person who told me I had made a “misstake” (sic) on Gays in “This I Believe” because I obviously was not “edgucated (sic) in this area.”

But this e-mail was an honour:

Dear Mr. Robert Hall,

Your article about your being tired was forwarded to me here in London by my friend Si F. in Los Angeles.

First of all let me say that I LIKED IT. EVERY WORD THAT YOU WROTE HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD.

Please permit me to make a few comments:--

I am glad that London is still the capital of England and is not yet called Londonabad and that England is not yet called Anglistan, and I doubt that I shall live to see that happen. But there is a serious danger that it may come about !

Because you see I am 92, a veteran of World War 2. But unless more of us speak
out as you have done, it will surely come about, as our British politicians, no less
than yours in the USA, are still living in the spirit of Neville Chamberlain, (who turned a blind eye to the obviously approaching danger of a "gentleman" called Herr Adolf Hitler),
instead of that of Winston Churchill ("We shall NEVER surrender").

Our financiers and politicians are just as corrupt as yours.

Our so-called "leaders" fall over themselves to be "fair minded" to the Islamist terrorists, and protect their "human rights", releasing murderers in a spirit of "Justice" while completely ignoring the human rights (no quotation marks this time) of their quite innocent victims, such as those who were slaughtered in New York on 9/11

It is now midnight (GMT) and I, too, am now tired and shall very soon be in bed, but we must all exert ourselves to try to prevent another catastrophic world war.

So I will conclude, in, I hope, English, instead of the stupid habit of teenagers to use their texting slang and say that I admire you, but we must all pull together to make a serious effort to save the world from disaster, (and in what is probably considered "old fashioned" style),

You may certainly post my comments on your site (not "sight", with your permission I correct you), and as you have no fear of your name and full address being quoted, I shall have the same lack of fear.

Best wishes

Yours very sincerely,

Michael Sherbourne (d.o.b. 22nd Feb.,1917)

32, Cissbury Ring South, Woodside Park,
N.Finchley, LONDON, N.12 7BE
England, UK e-mail maiklsher@googlemail.com

Note he caught a typo in my e-mail to him. Michael is a guy you'd want at your back in a rough house!

They were the Greatest Generation in Britain, too. Who will save our world now, as they did then? Imagine Churchill and Roosevelt trying to lock up all those Nazi POWs (enemy combatants) today, without giving them lawyers and their constitutional rights? Makes you tired to think about it.

Thanks for reading.

7 comments:

  1. Your "I'm Tired" was brilliant. I am only 51 and I am tired too. When people who are to the left of me would sneer at my support for President Bush and the GWOT, I used to give them this simple analogy:

    "Imagine that you are a Jewish couple living in Germany after WWI, you are 60 years old. You probably figured you would now live out your life in peace and quiet. I will bet this Jewish couple COULD NOT CONCEIVE of the notion that they would end up in an oven in their early 80's..."

    I am only 51, I can and do imagine it could happen in my lifetime...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Sir,
    First of all, thank you for your service to me and this country. I do not have words to express my appreciation for your military service. I also want to express my deepest gratitude for putting my feelings into words with your "I'm Tired". I received it via email from a friend. I, too, am from the 'great' State of Illinois, where we are now going to be hit with an income tax increase because there isn't enough money in the coffers to 'continue business as usual'. I wonder what our ingenious leaders think we, those of us running a household on a stagnant income, are suppose to do when we have to keep doing with less? We are fiscally responsible people who buy only what we can afford. What happened to the mindset of spending only what you have the money for? Our government (federal and state) needs to get a good lesson on returning to this way of life. I'm tired, frustrated, and downright angry.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sir,

    I was very moved by your posting of Mr. Sherbourne's email to you. There's a dynamic split in the world, those who can not see what is happening and those who have no choice but to see it. Like my father before me, if there is to be another great war, I only pray I will be on the right side. In the meantime, these blogs we do are NOT useless. Not when a kindly British gentleman can remind those of us who were born in a safer world that the fight is worth it and the dangers are worth fighting against.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It must be a horrible life not to have Jesus in your life!! Without Jesus in my life I would have snapped about 35 years ago!! But now even though I am constantly fighting the antichrist globalist forces that are driving our nation right down their drain; I have peace and comfort that surpasses understanding!! And everyday I am renewed as my relationship with my King and Lord grows stronger each day!! For I know who rules this present Earth and it is lucifer and his children!!

    But their evil reign will be coming to an abrupt end after they have totally enslaved the whole planet and make people who don't know God take their zombie making Mark of the Beast Chip!! For this chip is spoken of in Revelation 13 and 14 and it will doom billions to lose their eternal souls; while it will also reward 100's of millions to inherit great rewards of martyrdom!! And we will be living like gods and goddesses on the renovated and beautified Earth while the new world order antichrist wicked will be suffering immensely in the great lake of fire and brimstone forever and ever and ever!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't know whether the "chip" Rev. Jackson is referring to is marked "INTEL" or "VISA/MASTERCARD". In either case it is causing havoc within our society. Washington is running out of control and so are the vast majority of Americans. The only "cause" most Americans seem to be fighting for anymore is "get all I can get"! Your "I'm Tired"posting should be sent to everyone in the political arena or should I say it should be "CARRIED" to the steps of the Capitol in Washington and nailed to the door. I think it's time to set political ideology aside and rally together with common sense and get this country back on track. There is way too much "I won't/can't" support this or that because I'm a Republican or Democrat and I don't share your political agenda. How about we start and AMERICAN AGENDA, one that has the real interests of this country truly in mind. Run it like a business, one that keeps books and stays within a budget and if you aren't doing your job you can get fired.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dear Mr. Hall

    I read your article "I'm Tired" in a local newspaper today and I must tell you that it is the best article that I have ever read. I am 61, I have B. S. in Political Science from a local university and a JD from Vanderbilt. I practiced law for 17 years and I now struggle to make a living as a remodeling contractor.

    I was expecting to go to Vietnam in 1969 so I applied for OCS. I passed the mental examination with flying colors, but the Surgeon General refused to approve me because, unbeknow to me, I had high frequency deafness. Although I did not serve in the military, I still get a lump in my throat when I see Old Glory being raised or lowered and I cannot keep back tears when I see a brave soldier being laid to rest whether he or she was a WWII Veteran, as is my 85 year-old father who is in the final stages of Parkinson Disease or a Serviceman or Servicewoman who has died in Bagdad.

    This country is being destroyed by corrupt politicans, especially judges, and by many young people who fail to understand that freedom isn't free. Some of us continue to fight for the ideals for which this nation began and for which it has always stood. More frequently our battlefields are not Normandy Beach or somewhere in Afghanistan or in the streets of Bagdad. Rather our modern day battles are fought on Main Streets all across America.

    I try to live a portion of each day by the saying of Edmund Burke: "Evil will continue to prevail so long as good men choose to do nothing."

    THANK YOU for being one of those good men who has chosen to do all he can to kep this GREAT NATION alive.

    Sincerely: John C. Kersey, Sr.
    Murfreesboro, TN

    ReplyDelete
  7. Someone posted your "I'm tired" article on Smart Girl Politics, with a link back to your blog. Wow, that was just a priceless piece!

    I'm 57 and lost a brother in Vietnam. I still can't believe that Obama was elected!

    I just wanted to thank you for such a terrific read!

    ReplyDelete